After 50-plus Years of Framing Local History, Kathleen Glenn Hanging It Up

By Jon Bashor

After 54 years of creating custom frames to help people and organizations protect memories and history, Kathleen Glenn will finally hang up her tools. Over the years, she has operated out of six storefronts on three streets in El Cerrito.

Kathleen Glenn amid the tools and fruits of her framing trade. Photos by Jon Bashor

She closed her last shop on Stockton Avenue in 2023 and is now applying her keen sense of matching frames to pictures, posters, documents, memorabilia and curios by appointment. She plans to continue accepting commissions until the end of 2025, then finish all of projects and retire.

Glenn’s work graces the walls of hundreds of homes, throughout El Cerrito and the East Bay, as well as in public places from El Cerrito City Hall to the Oakland Coliseum. Her own home is filled with dozens and dozens of examples of her handiwork, from an elegantly framed small snapshot of her mother basking in the sun to a box frame containing her grandfather’s glasses, pocket watch and shaving brush. On the same wall hang collections of her father’s insignia from his time in the U.S. Navy and her Portuguese grandfather’s certificate of naturalization dated Nov. 27, 1942.

Over the years, her success has been recognized many times over. In 2003, the El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce named her the Small Business Person of the Year and the Contra Costa Council honored her with its “Small Business Award,” which included congratulatory letters from Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher and state Senator Tom Torlakson. Congressman George Miller awarded her a certificate of achievement “in recognition of outstanding community service.” In 2021, El Cerrito Mayor Paul Fadelli officially recognized her 50 years in business.

Secrets of her success
So, what’s her secret to being the go-to custom framer for more than five decades?

“When choosing the material for the frame, you want something that accents the piece but doesn’t dominate it,” Glenn said. “You’re limited only by your budget.”

She also makes sure that the framed item can later be removed without damaging it. For example, when a customer asked her to frame a Native American cradleboard, Glenn hand-stitched it to a fabric backing, then mounted it on a hard backing. Another customer wanted a violin framed, but in such a way that family members could take the instrument down and play it.

“I can frame almost anything. My slogan is ‘You name it, I frame it’,” she said. “I think the projects I do best are the ones that are the most personal for the customer.”

Many of her projects help her customers preserve their own history, whether ancestral photos or objects passed down over generations. She has also framed historic documents and relics.

For example, to mark the arrival of the personal computer age, one client asked her to frame his slide rule. Another had a pelican skull to frame; Glenn built a 3D plexiglass box about 30 inches tall to accommodate the long beak and mounted it to a wooden frame so it could hang on the wall. She’s also framed a computer storage disc, baby clothes, a kimono, lots of jewelry, including silver work from Colombia – all of which required hand stitching to hold them in place (she cringes at the mere thought of using glue).

Then there was a 34-by-40 inch historical map of central London drawn in cartoon style and published by the Travel Bureau of the U.K. aimed at luring tourists to post WWII England. One of her most recent projects was for an autograph collector who finally found a signature from Moe Howard of the Three Stooges. Glenn said that was even more interesting than the time she framed Abraham Lincoln’s signature for the same client. Next up is a lacquered tortilla with a mysterious image of a face formed on it.

Glenn framed this photo and checked signed by Moe Howard of the Three Stooges for a client who collects celebrity autographs.

‘It fell into my lap’
Glenn didn’t plan on going into the framing business. As a senior at Harry Ells High School in Richmond, she was looking for a part-time job at Mechanics Bank. When she applied to work at the bank, she was told she needed a reference. She called a neighbor, from whom she had taken art classes at Adams Junior High and had done baby-sitting, to ask him, but he suggested she go to Soule’s Art Studio and Frame Studio on San Pablo Avenue at the intersection of Moeser Lane.

“I went in and they said, ‘Yeah, we’ll hire you,’ so I worked there over Easter vacation,” Glenn recalled. “I was earning $1.25 an hour so I decided not to go to college after high school. It just fell into my lap.”

Her parents helped her buy a car, a Chevrolet Corvair, by co-signing a loan. Her mom taught her how to handle money, including making car payments and keeping gas in the tank.

“I worked Soule’s for six years and learned everything about the business, the cash register, art supplies, materials and framing,” she said. “I also took classes in photography, art and framing.”

At Soule’s, a Frenchman named Vincent did all the framing. Though he didn’t speak much English, he showed Glenn how to cut the mats and the frames and let her help out.

“But sometimes he didn’t show up and one day he didn’t come in when a special order needed to be done,” she said. “I said ‘I can do it,’ so I did it.” 

Eventually, Vincent lost his job and Glenn took over. She had bought some tools and was also doing more framing at home, so when a sales rep for Victor Molding framing materials suggested she consider opening her own shop, she decided to take the plunge.

She borrowed $6,000 from her family and bought the inventory of a shop that closed in Oakland. Her parents and other relatives helped her move into a small shop at 11448 San Pablo Ave. next to Louie’s Club. That was in 1971 and Glenn was 24 years old. But she admits she had no sense of running a business, including getting a city permit, filing a notice of a fictitious business name and the like. She called her shop The Glenn, later adding Custom Framing to the name. She ended her first day with $46 in the till and paid off half her car loan in her first year.

On the move again
After four years, she moved across the street to a shop that had an apartment above it, where she lived, and a large storage space in the back. At the urging of a client, she turned the empty space next door into a gallery. She hired a 16-year-old girl to help out, forcing Glenn to learn the ins and outs of paying wages, withholding taxes, etc. Although she was unable to buy the building, she did buy a space later – one of the properties on the board game El Cerrito-opoly (based on Monopoly)  produced in 1986 as a fundraiser by the El Cerrito chapter of Soroptomist International. She moved to her next shop in 1980.

Glenn marked her first year in her second shop location with an advertorial writeup in a local newspaper, at left. She was interested in buying the building, but no deal was made. She later bought a property on the board of El Cerrito-opology, a fund-raiser by the El Cerrito chapter of Soroptomist International.

“It was a teeny store at the top of Fairmount but it had a big storage room out back where I cut the frames,” Glenn said. But she couldn’t get to the storage area unless she went out the front door, around the corner and then into the workroom. Then she had to backtrack to bring the frame back inside the store to do the mounting. 

Several years later, Larry Parks moved his women’s wear store to the rebuilt El Cerrito Plaza, leaving a large vacancy a few doors away on Fairmount. Glenn redesigned the space to accommodate three small businesses and moved from 7504 Fairmount to 7512 with neighboring businesses Das Puppenhaus and Kiyo-Mi Gifts. On one of the occasions when she took a vacation, she returned to find a car had jumped the sidewalk and crunched the doors of her shop. In the midst of new doors being installed, a city inspector drove up and asked if she had a permit for the work. “I said I’m just replacing the doors. Do I really need an inspection?” she told him. After a little back and forth, he decided she didn’t.

But the parking situation at the top of Fairmount had gotten “horrendous” by then, she said, and in 1988 she moved her business to 7027 Stockton Ave., across from the 7-11 store. To better accommodate clients who were bringing in items of various shapes and sizes and picking them up fully framed, Glenn got permission from the city to create a 15-minute parking space in front of her shop.

“It was a teeny store at the top of Fairmount but it had a big storage room out back where I cut the frames,” Glenn said. But she couldn’t get to the storage area unless she went out the front door, around the corner and then into the workroom. Then she had to backtrack to bring the frame back inside the store to do the mounting.

Several years later, Larry Parks moved his women’s wear store to the rebuilt El Cerrito Plaza, leaving a large vacancy a few doors away on Fairmount. Glenn redesigned the space to accommodate three small businesses and moved from 7504 Fairmount to 7512 with neighboring businesses Das Puppenhaus and Kiyo-Mi Gifts. On one of the occasions when she took a vacation, she returned to find a car had jumped the sidewalk and crunched the doors of her shop. In the midst of new doors being installed, a city inspector drove up and asked if she had a permit for the work. “I said I’m just replacing the doors. Do I really need an inspection?” she told him. After a little back and forth, he decided she didn’t.

But the parking situation at the top of Fairmount had gotten “horrendous” by then, she said, and in 1988 she moved her business to 7027 Stockton Ave., across from the 7-11 store. To better accommodate clients who were bringing in items of various shapes and sizes and picking them up fully framed, Glenn got permission from the city to create a 15-minute parking space in front of her shop.“It was a teeny store at the top of Fairmount but it had a big storage room out back where I cut the frames,” Glenn said. But she couldn’t get to the storage area unless she went out the front door, around the corner and then into the workroom. Then she had to backtrack to bring the frame back inside the store to do the mounting.

A magnetic bulletin board in Glenn’s El Cerrito house holds reminders of her work, recognition of her contributions and her motivation.

This shop would turn out to be the address where The Glenn stayed the longest. During this time she expanded her community involvement. Her daughter volunteered Kathleen to make costumes for El Cerrito High School Drama Department, which led to 10 years of making costumes and helping build stage sets for both the high school and Contra Costa Civic Theatre. She was one of the first members of the city’s Arts and Culture Commission and as a member of the Art Association she helped organize and chaired art exhibits. And she worked with the 4th of July celebration. She also taught framing classes for adult education programs in Richmond and Piedmont.

 When Jen Komaromi and Kevin O’Neal, owners Jenny K Gifts and Well Grounded Tea and Coffee Bar started the Stockton Street Stroll in 2008, Glenn’s shop served as one of the anchors. With Gregg Meyer, co-owner of the JUKU co-working space, they organized monthly Friday night art displays.

 Also during this time, Glenn stored some of the historic items removed from El Cerrito High School when the old buildings were razed in 2005 to make way for the new school. When it reopened in 2008 with a dedicated museum space and sports hall of fame, Glenn framed the photos, ephemera donated objects for display.

The El Cerrito High School museum features a number of exhibits framed by Kathleen Glenn.
Read more about her work with the ECHS museum project.

Finding a framer
Ken Stanton lives just up the hill from where Glenn had her shops on Stockton Ave. He met her when he was looking for someone to frame a painting his father made while earning a business degree at Sacramento State University and took an art class to earn enough credits to graduate. The result, now framed and hanging in Stanton’s living room, is a vivid night scene with glowing lights, vibrant clouds, colorful buildings and two people, a dog and a cat on the sidewalk.

“Until my father brought it home, we didn’t realize he was anything more than a crewcut-and-suit-and-tie kind of guy,” Stanton said. “It totally changed our perception of him.”

More paintings, prints and photos framed by Glenn are displayed in Stanton’s living room, dining room, hallways and bedrooms. Two of his three daughters also have examples of Glenn’s craft in their homes.

Hank Stanton's family gained a new perspective on him when he brought this painting home from his college art class. It now hangs in his son’s home in El Cerrito.

Stanton says he still meets Glenn for lunch occasionally.

“I admire how she faces life with resilience and composure and supports others who are going through tough times,” he said. “The only time I’ve ever heard her complain is when the A’s left Oakland.”

Another new customer to meet Glenn at her new location was Jan Lovell, a now-retired elementary school science teacher who lives in El Cerrito. She drove by the shop as she was looking for someone to frame a watercolor painting of a sailboat Lovell’s mother built for herself. “I’ll just go in there,” Lovell recalled thinking at the time.

During that visit, Lovell learned that you don’t just pop into the Glenn and drop off your work.

“Kathy loves to talk with people,” she said. “You don’t go see Kathy quickly. And every time, the results are perfect.” Lovell also had Glenn frame a poster advertising the Courtland Pear Festival in the Sacramento Delta, which was done with material that looked like siding from a barn. A painting of a rowboat tied up at a delta levee is framed in unfinished wood with added wormholes. In all, seven Glenn-framed pictures hang in the Lovell’s home.

The latest work shows the Lovells’ granddaughter and her fellow crew members in their scull just after their rowing team won the 2023 Youth National Championship in Florida. What makes the work special is that Glenn mounted two photos side-by-side: the first shows the grand-daughter raising her arm in victory, the second shows her hugging a teammate.

For Jan Lovell, Glenn framed two photos of Lovell’s granddaughter’s winning crew team side by side, giving the work a sense of forward motion.

One last stop on Stockton
In 2012, Glenn moved her business across the street to 2002 Stockton Ave. It was also around this time that she started thinking of retirement. And now the end is in sight.

“Picture framing is what I’ve done my whole life,” Glenn said. “I’ve never worried about competition – you just specialize in something you can do well and with great care.”

Lovell agrees.

“She’s an artist as she frames everybody’s things; after a while you just trust her,” Lovell said. “When she finally, really retires it’s going to be a great loss.”

With retirement now in sight, says she will continue creating artwork, sewing quilts, making dollhouse furniture and making meals. “I like to cook,” she said, “because I like to eat.”

And her decades-long business?

“I won’t miss framing per se, but I will miss what it brought into my life,” she said. “I’ll miss the people, the friendships and the treasures they bring me. And I’ll miss having a storefront on the street.”